Mormon Apostle Teaches How to Keep the Light of Christ

Many years ago, my husband and I lived in the Pacific Northwest. As the rainy climate made the sky constantly gloomy, I soon found I had a mood to match. Fortunately for me, we did not stay long and soon moved to a warmer and drier climate. I was ever so grateful to my husband when he found us an apartment with many sunlit windows that helped me feel the warmth and cheerfulness that I had been missing.

In retrospect, I realize that I needed to be in those contrasting climates for a reason. It has become clear to me now that just as the sun gives us physical illumination, the light of Christ gives us spiritual enlightenment.

Over the past few weeks, I have been contemplating what it really means to feel the light of Christ and how to keep it with me. I came to the conclusion that at the times when I could not feel “the light,” it was because of my own self-indulgence of too many guilty pleasures.

In the Book of Mormon, a prophet named King Benjamin gave a beautiful final address to his people before conferring the throne to his son. One part of his address that has been burned in my mind lately is in Mosiah 3:19 where he said, “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord. . .”

An additional Book of Mormon story that I love, is about a king of a neighboring land. Although this king’s exact name is never mentioned, we know from Alma 22:18 that once he learned about the light of Jesus Christ, he said he would “give away all my sins to know thee.” It was so impressive that this king was willing to give up everything – not just some of his bad habits – to know the Savior.

In my search for “the light,” I came across a video called “Patterns of Light.” Church Apostle David A. Bednar teaches in this three-part video series about how to recognize Christ’s light and how to keep it near you. I hope as you watch these short videos, they will help you as they have helped me.